Accused WikiLeaker Manning Is Being Mistreated, Lawyer Says

Does permitting a prisoner to walk in circle eights for one hour a day constitute exercise? Is not being allowed pillows or sheets a form of mistreatment?

These questions may lie at the heart of a formal complaint lodged this week by the lawyer defending accused WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning, an Army private who is being held in military custody at Quantico, Va.

David Coombs, who represents Manning for his court-martial proceedings, announced on his website that he had filed a formal complaint under the Uniform Code of Military Justice protesting Manning's treatment. Coombs said in his complaint that keeping Manning under prevention-of-injury watch for five months, and suicide watch, is an "abuse" of the base commander's discretion.

Manning is in pretrial detention at Quantico awaiting court-martial proceedings. He is suspected of passing a massive trove of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, which has posted many of them online.

Coombs is asking that Manning be removed from prevention-of-injury watch, which is the reason for many of his current restrictions, and that his status be changed to "medium" from "maximum" custody.

WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange has never confirmed that Manning is the source of the documents and claims the website is set up so that it would be impossible to know the identify of its leakers. Nonetheless, WikiLeaks has contributed to Manning's defense fund.

The restrictions related to Manning's pretrial confinement have become the source of debate surrounding his treatment. For example, Manning is not allowed to have a pillow or sheets, though he is provided a foam mattress with a built-in pillow.

His day, which is almost entirely spent in his cell, is also extremely restrictive, and he is also under a strict schedule that includes proscribed time for activities such as reading and correspondence.

Coombs argues that there is no justification for having put Manning on suicide watch, or even the prevention-of-injury watch, and the restrictions are unfair.

"For 23 hours per day, he will sit in his cell," Coombs wrote in his complaint. "The guards will check on him every five minutes by asking him if he is okay. PFC Manning will be required to respond in some affirmative manner."

In recent weeks, the details of his treatment have become the subject of dispute between Pentagon officials and those who have contact with Manning. David House, a Boston-based friend of Manning who has visited him at Quantico, described the conditions in a blog post and disputed some of the assertions made by the Pentagon about his treatment.

House said that Manning "laughed" when told the Pentagon claims he has access to newspapers.

First Lt. Brian Villiard, a spokesman for Quantico, told AOL News that Manning is under no restrictions specific to his case but is subject to the same regulations as all detainees with similar designations. For example, there are no restrictions on Manning regarding newspapers, but the facility itself, according to Villiard, did not have a subscription to any newspaper.

The base commander occasionally brings his own newspaper from home and provides it to the detainees, according to Villiard.

Villiard confirmed to AOL News that Manning spent about three days on suicide watch this week, but that status has since been lifted and he is now under the lesser "prevention of injury" watch. Villiard said that he couldn't discuss the details of Manning's current designation, but said such decisions about suicide or injury watch are based on input from a variety of people, including health professionals, Marines working in the brig and even the chaplain.

"To us, Bradley Manning is just another maximum-security detainee," Villiard said. "We're just a housing facility."